Russia will not support US bid to change Iran nuclear deal

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said today that Moscow will not support attempts by Washington to modify the Iran nuclear deal, Reuters reported.

Lavrov spoke days after US President Donald Trump said he would waive nuclear sanctions against Iran for the last time to give Washington and its European allies a chance to fix the “terrible flaws” of the 2015 nuclear deal.

“We will not support what the United States is trying to do, changing the wording of the agreement, incorporating things that will be absolutely unacceptable for Iran,” Lavrov told a news conference in Moscow.

Read: Iran’s Rouhani says US has failed to undermine nuclear deal

Russia’s top diplomat, who stressed that Moscow will work to preserve the existing Iran nuclear deal, also warned that the agreement’s collapse could be detrimental to dialogue with North Korea.

“If the deal is put aside and Iran is told, ‘you keep up with your obligations or we will impose sanctions again’, then you have to put North Korea in its place,” Lavrov said.

“They are being promised that sanctions will be lifted if they give up their nuclear programme. They will give it up, but no one will lift the sanctions against Pyongyang.”